It's an Oracle's Life
by BlueChouLyla
Summary: She is an Oracle: she sees all, she knows all. Yet, she seems to do it all wrong. He is a Taiyoukai: he is the strongest, he is the proudest. Yet, he cannot find his child. After the shameful act comes the suffering, but what comes after that?
1. Prologue: It's an Oracle's Life

A/N - well, as you can probably tell, this is my first foray into the land of fan fic in general and Inuyasha fan fic in particular. so, umm... without anything else to say -- I hope you enjoy

(japanese translations are at the bottom)

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or anything remotely similar...

* * *

The young apprentice sighed as she looked at the sight in front of her. A large shrine, and in it, on a raised platform covered with beautiful multi colored pillows, a woman was sitting. Her hair was white with age, but her face was smooth. Her eyes shone with wisdom, and a small yellow circle above her brows gleamed almost pink in the light of the fire. It was the woman who made the young apprentice sigh. She was the Oracle, the wisest and oldest woman in Japan, even if she didn't look it.

The Oracle looked at the young apprentice, her brown eyes full of sympathy, but her voice was hard. "Kagome," she started, but the girl interrupted her, for once not caring if she was rude.

"Iye, Oracle-sama. I'm only here because Kaede-sama asked me to bring you these." Kagome said and thrust the basket in her hands towards the Oracle.

"And why not, girl?" the old woman asked her, knowing full well the answer she would get. And not only because she was the Oracle and knew everything, but also because she and the girl had been at it since the girl turned ten and the Oracle told her she had more power in her than the average Miko, and that she could become an Oracle herself. Every week the village Miko, Kaede, would send Kagome up the path towards the Oracle's shrine so the she could convince Kagome to begin her training as an Oracle instead of a simple Miko. Every week the oracle would ask the girl if she came to begin her training, and every week Kagome would answer that she could not be an Oracle, for one reason or another. Normally the Oracle would be easy on her. She did not want to take a reluctant apprentice, after all. But there was no time left. She couldn't be so lenient with the girl anymore.

"Because…" Kagome started answering, stumbling around words, trying to find another good reason that wasn't 'because I don't want to'.

"Well… I can not be an Oracle, Oracle-sama. I hardly have power as a Miko, so how can I be an Oracle? I am too weak."

The Oracle shook her head. Really, she loved the girl, but she hid herself too much in her pleasant world of denial. It was time for her to come back to reality.

"Do you call me a liar, girl? Or maybe you presume to think I don't know what I'm talking about?"

The young girl's eyes were wide with shock. And surprise. She disrespected the Oracle, and feared the punishment that no doubt awaited her.

"Gomen nasai, Oracle-sama! I didn't mean to—"

"It matters not what you meant, child. But remember; if I say you have the power to become an Oracle, you have the power to become an Oracle. I don't know what made you think you are weak, but I assure you, your spiritual powers are as strong, maybe ever stronger, than my own. Understood?"

Kagome nodded slowly, not sure of how to accept the fate she has been avoiding for the past five years.

"Good. I want to see you here tomorrow morning. Tell Kaede to find another girl to train. Bring your things with you, too. We don't have much time left."

Kagome blinked away tears as she walked the path from the Oracle's shrine back to the village. She did not want to become the Oracle! She never even wanted to become a Miko! She was only fifteen, and she didn't understand what made her so different than the other girls in town. All she wanted was to be normal – to find a normal husband and have lots of normal babies and lead a peaceful, normal life. Well, as peaceful as it got in the Feudal Era, anyway.

She didn't realize she stopped walking till she found herself leaning against a tree – the tree where she and her best friend used to play in. The realization only brought back the tears – both Kagome and Sango were girls who hated what waited for them in the future – for Kagome, being the village Miko, and for Sango, being the wife. Sango was a 'free spirit', and had always wanted to become a warrior, just like her father had been, but everyone just laughed at her when she mentioned that. 'A woman warrior? Hah! There's a reason a woman is kept in the house.' That, and 'Who would ever want to hire a woman Samurai?' were the usual responses she got. But Sango escaped her dreaded fate. She ran off a year ago, and vowed that she would come back as a great warrior, just like her father. Sango had offered Kagome to escape with her, but Kagome chose to stay. As much as the separation from her friend hurt, she could not leave her home, she cold not bear to part with all the familiar things that surrounded her.

A tear rolled down on her cheek, and another, and another. Before she could help it, Kagome was sobbing quietly into the bark of the tree. She could do nothing other than cry, so cry she did. She made sure any traces of her tears were gone, though, before getting back on the path and walking to the village that has been her home for the past fifteen years. After all, she should be happy for having the chance to become one of the most powerful women in Japan. Should be.

* * *

Intensive training managed to turn Kagome from the hearty, cheerful girl she was to a calm and composed 'lady', in less than a year. At the day that marked a year since Kagome became the Oracle's apprentice, the Oracle tattooed Kagome's forehead, painting a small yellow orb like her own, only Kagome's had six jagged little rays coming out of it, like a sun.

The shape didn't really matter. It was the color and location that named her the Oracle – yellow and in the middle of her forehead. It was not a normally used shape – most oracles used to have an upside-down triangle. But then, most oracles were dead. The Oracle race, which had never been very prominent, was practically gone now, with only two Oracles still alive.

* * *

The next morning Kagome awoke to find herself alone in the shrine. She knew it would happen – Midoriko, the Oracle, had often hinted that her time was coming.

How she knew that, Kagome did not know. An oracle could see into the future, yes, but Kagome never managed to get a glimpse at her own. When she asked Midoriko about it, still an apprentice, the Oracle answered, "do not worry about it, it is completely normal," and refused to talk any more about the subject. Kagome just thought that Midoriko didn't want to talk about the fact that while she knew what would happen to anyone in the world, even those not born yet, even those ages away, she did not know what would happen to _her_. Kagome herself didn't like to think of it much.

_But then—how did Midoriko-sama knew she was going to die?_

_And why did it have to be now!_

Kagome could find no answer. And she had duty to do. She had duty to the village, she had duty to the world. She was the only oracle left. But first, she had to go to the village, to tell Kaede that Midoriko is dead, and to plan her ceremony with the old Miko.

It was just before she left the shrine that she noticed a pink gleam coming from Midoriko's now abandoned futon. Slowly, she walked towards it, almost reverently. Something inside her told her that this gleam, wherever it came from, was bound to be important.

On the small pillow, where the older Oracle's head used to rest, was a small pink sphere, glistening in the sunlight, just like the small circle of Midoriko's forehead. Kagome knelt before it and took it in her hand. She knew that she would keep the jewel with her at all time. Just the thought of being without it was enough to give her a sense of foreboding.

* * *

There was someone sitting under her favouite tree. Sleeping, more like. He looked… regal. His white hair and strange markings named him Youkai, or maybe even a Kami. His white clothes looked like the softest silk in Japan. She never knew clothes could be so soft. They were beautiful… and covered with blood. He was wounded! She looked sadly at the vegetables in her hands. He needed them more, she decided. She offered it to him.

"Do not do such a foolish thing." He said. "Human food does not suit me."

Maybe he needed meat? She didn't know what Kami ate, after all. The river was full of fish, and that was how the villagers found her, struggling to keep the fish from escaping her tiny hands, just like her Otou taught her. "I knew it!" one of them yelled. "So you were the culprit!" another grabbed her by her yukata, but she didn't say anything. She didn't even yell when he slapped her. Only a small whimper escaped her mouth as he let her go, and she stumbled back towards the woods, trying to think of another way to get food for the Kami under her tree.

Perhaps she had been looking at it the wrong way. Maybe he was vegetarian, and just didn't like mushrooms? She tried bringing him some wheat heads, or something that looked like it, but– "I don't need it. I don't need anything."

But it was obvious he did need something, because he was wounded and could not even get up.

"What happened to the wound on your face?" he asked her, not bothering to look at her, but she stopped. It had been a long while since someone asked her what happened to her, how she was doing, or simply treated her nicely. The wound was a result of the beating she got from the villagers when they caught her in the river, but she did not tell him that. In fact, she did not tell him anything. She had not said a word since she saw her whole family die. She wondered if he would be angry at her for not answering, wondered if he would strike her. She knew he could kill her without putting much effort to it. He was a Kami, after all. Or at least a Youkai.

"If you do not wish to speak, that's fine." He said, and she made a small sound of gratitude that soon turned into a grin.

"Why are you so happy?" he asked her. "I just asked what happened." She gave him one last smile, and, leaving what she brought him behind just in case, she started hopping back to the village, to the rundown shack which was hers. Maybe there was something he would like there. She had stored some food to the winter. She hoped she would find something for him to eat. He needed to be strong.

There was a man in her hut – no, Youkai – she corrected herself, noticing the pointy ears and strange clothings. He was going through her things, and she hid behind the wooden plank that served as a door, looking at him. She continued looking as another Youkai came and killed the man. Her eyes widened when she heard the other Youkai tell his wolves that if they want, they could eat as many villagers as they wished.

She started running to the woods, to the wounded Kami. Whether it was to warn him or in hopes that he would protect her, she was not sure. She could see him in her mind's eye, though, his white hair flowing in the wind, turning around from her and walking away. She ran faster, the tears in her eyes blurring her view. She didn't see the root on the ground before her tiny leg got caught in it and she fell. _I hope he is alright._ She thought. And then, when the wolves closed in on her – _Otou, okaa… I'll be with you soon.

* * *

_

Kagome awoke screaming when she first felt the wolves' jaws on her skin. This dream was nothing like the usual trance she had when having a Vision. In opposed to her Oracle Visions, that were like watching a scene from the side, and everything was always fuzzy and muffled and covered with white fog, this dream was… alive. She _was_ the girl; she felt everything that happened to her.

Her hand caught at the necklace at her neck. The necklace she had made to hold the tama left behind on Midoriko's futon. Kagome had a feeling that it had something to do with her dream. As she closed her hands on the jewel, a Vision came to her.

In a world of white fog, the Youkai from her dream, the one in white, was towering over the body of a dead girl. The girl she had been in that dream. The youkai took out his sword, slashing at the air above the girl. A pretty stupid and useless thing to do, in Kagome's mind.

She watched as he returned his sword to its sheath, and pulled the girl closer to him with one hand.

Then the girl's body stirred. She took a breath, her eyelids fluttering, then opening completely. The dead girl was, apparently, very much alive. And somehow, the youkai did it.

Kagome could hear a muffled exclamation that came from an ugly green toad youkai, who stood near the Youkai in White.

"She has revived! Anno… Sesshoumaru-sama… Sesshoumaru-sama has saved that girl using Tenseiga?"

Both the girl and the White Youkai – Sesshoumaru, as the toad called him – were ignoring said toad, who continued with his annoying voice. "Sesshoumaru-sama has saved a human?"

At that point, Kagome decided also to ignore the toad, and watched the girl and youkai more closely. Well, the youkai. There was a reason she had dreamed of this. And she wanted to know how he did that, how he managed to bring the girl back from the dead. She wanted to know the youkai's secret.

The little girl followed as the youkai left.

* * *

Japanese Translations:

Iye – no

Youkai – demon

Kami - god

Otou – more intimate form of father

Okaa – more intimate form of mother

Tama – jewel

Anno – something akin to "ummm"


	2. Chapter 1: Don't pick the Flowers!

* * *

Wow. I'm sooooooo sorry for being gone for so long. sadly, I can't say that it won't happen again - RL is leaving me with little to no time at all on the compi, (not to mention the internet) and so I hardly manage to update. BUT, I am not giving up on writing, and besides this story I have some others that are brewing in mind... 

and no, I don't own Inuyasha. meanies.

here's the next chapter - hope you like:)

* * *

Kagome had adjusted to her life as an Oracle, the last Oracle, pretty fast. Faster than she thought. Sometimes, she wondered if the jewel left behind by Midoriko wasn't responsible for that, somehow. At times, the jewel seemed alive, sparkling and glittering like Midoriko's eyes sometimes would, when she was amused, or glistening, as if able to shed tears. Kagome was sure that somehow, Midoriko's spirit was captured inside the tama, or at least part of it. She couldn't explain how it happened, and she didn't know if Midoriko had planned for it to happen, but she was glad that it _had_ happened. Especially when she turned to it for comfort. 

It seemed funny, that she should need to turn to a jewel for comfort, and not a friend. But she was the Oracle-sama. She had no friends. In the jewel was a fragment of a woman who had been both her mentor and her friend, so she practically latched onto it, never letting it out of her sight, always keeping it in its necklace around her neck, even when she was bathing.

Kagome's life found some sort of routine, if a boring one. Every morning she would wake up, make herself some breakfast, maybe clean around a little if she found the need to. Then she would go to the river and bathe, and afterwards, she would sit on the raised platform in the front of the shrine, on her favourite pillow, and meditate. After a few minutes of meditating, she would stretch her powers as far as she could, and See.

Normally, she would just See whatever Vision came onto her first. Sometimes, she would direct her Visions, choosing what she wanted to See. Some things, she would rather not See, such as her long time friend Sango. She wanted to know what happened to her, but she was scared… their time was not a safe one to live in, and certainly not one to travel alone in, and even though it was childish and stupid, Kagome wanted to believe that her best friend was well and safe, rather than face the possibility of watching Sango's death.

What she usually did want to See, would always be the furthest thing she could. For some reason, she never liked Seeing all the things that happened around her. She did have the power to See five hundred years into the future, as well as five hundred years in the past. What could be interesting enough in her time to compete with machines that helped humans fly, or machines that made them faster than the fastest youkai? Or the tall buildings they lived in? Or maybe just the youkai-less lives they had?

It amazed her that there were no youkai in the future, and she often wondered how exactly the youkai vanished from the earth. And why. But even though she tried, she could never find the exact point in time when they started to disappear. It seemed as if one day they were alive and in full power, while a short time later they were… drained. Powerless. Like a race in danger of extinction.

* * *

Kagome hated her life, resented her repetitive, unchanging routine. Her only comfort was her dreams. Dreams that were not really dreams, but another girl's life. A little girl, with a gap in her toothy smile and a small, weird ponytail on the side of her head. A little girl who had a fearsome, arrogant youkai as her father-figure, and an ugly, annoying youkai as her nanny. Every night she would dream about them, always from the girl's point of view. She could not See them while awake, though, not after the first night. She could only dream. So dream she did.

* * *

She was a little girl again, the same little girl she had been before. Sitting on a dragon and watching her white Kami, Sesshoumaru-sama, while his toad servant blabbered behind. She loved traveling with Sesshoumaru-sama, and pestering Jaken whenever she could. She didn't mind the fact that they were both demons. They were… family. And this family, she knew, would not leave her so easily. Nothing could hurt Sesshoumaru-sama, and she would be with him forever. If he didn't leave her. 

For a moment, she was worried. What if Sesshoumaru-sama decided to leave her? What would she do then? Shaking her little head, she thought of all the times Sesshoumaru-sama left her. But he always left Ah-Un and Jaken to take care of her. And he always came back. Her Sesshoumaru-sama would always come back to her.

She realized that they had stopped, and that Jaken was already starting a fire. She was looking for something to do when she noticed that the clearing they were in was larger then usual.

And filled with flowers.

"Ooooh, Jaken-sama, look at all those flowers!" she exclaimed, running off to pick some of them up. She loved picking flowers. They reminded her of happiness and freedom and all the things she had come to know since Sesshoumaru-sama had saved her. She gathered some flowers, picking only the prettiest, and ran off to where Sesshoumaru-sama was sitting.

"Sesshoumaru-sama! I picked some flowers for you!"

He looked at her, just like he always did when she trying to give him flowers. She knew he was an all powerful youkai and had no need for flowers, as Jaken kept on reminding her. She just wanted to give him something. He never took them, though.

She turned around, a little disappointed, even though she should be used to it by now, flowers still at hand, when she spotted Jaken. He was making some food over the fire.

"Jaken-sama!" she called. "What are you making?"

He started answering her, but she didn't really listen. She glanced at the flowers in her hands, then at Jaken, and at the flowers again. Taking the flowers, she decorated Jaken's hat and robes with them. She even decorated his staff with some. Jaken, when he noticed, started grumbling and taking them off.

"Don't do that, Jaken-sama!" she told him, ignoring his indigent squeaks.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, doesn't Jaken look pretty?" she asked, pride in her voice. Even though she thought Jaken looked kind of foolish like this. Actually, she thought Jaken looked kind of foolish all the time. Not that she was sure what exactly 'foolish' meant. She just heard Jaken use that word all the time.

Then her eyes spotted another flower, a different one. It was big, with huge white petals that had blue and yellow flecks on the inside of them. It stood there, alone, taller and prettier than the other flowers. Just like Sesshoumaru-sama, her Kami. _Rin will pick it up for him_, she thought. _Maybe Sesshoumaru-sama would take it this time, and not ignore it._

Kagome watched with a sense of foreboding, suddenly detached from the little girl, and the dream was now just like a normal Oracle Vision, with white fog and muffled sound. She watched, not able to do anything, as the girl she had been each night for the last year disappeared from the eyes of her god and guardian. Sesshoumaru was already on his feet, his golden eyes more red than anything else, now.

The flower Rin had been touching but a moment ago started to grow bigger and wider, though Sesshoumaru, in his rage, failed to notice it until he had relaxed and the flower was around his height. It was shimmering and flickering and turning into something… humanoid. A man, or at least, he looked like a man, with short blond hair, catlike green eyes, and pointed ears.

Kagome recognized him.

The fog around her thickened, and she could only hear snatches of the talk between the Youkai Lord and the one who took his ward. There was something else trying to catch her attention, but she did her best to ignore it. _I want to know what happened to Rin! Is she alright?_

"I have the girl, she is safe."

That was from the stranger, and did nothing to lessen the Youkai's rage. He said something that Kagome did not hear, as she was trying to focus her attention on the vision before her eyes, but she heard the man's answer.

"She is safe. But you will have to find her."

The youkai growled, and once again, Kagome could not hear his response, struggling against that which pulled her from her vision.

"I will not tell you where. The point is you finding her on your own."

This time, she managed to hear what Sesshoumaru growled.

"Why?"

"You will see, in time."

An uneasy sensation that had nothing to do with the vision in front of her settled over Kagome as Sesshoumaru leaped at the stranger, probably ready to kill him and be done with it, but the stranger disappeared, and reappeared again behind Sesshoumaru, near the tree where the youkai sat earlier.

"Tsk tsk." The stranger said. "It would not do well for you to kill me." There was a smirk on the strangers face.

"After all, I am the only one who knows where she is."

"And what good are you to me when you're not willing to tell?" it seemed as if Sesshoumaru managed to control his rage from before, as now his icy mask returned, looking once again as if he did not care about a thing that happened around him. But Kagome knew he cared. She had seen the red in his eyes, and heard the growls coming out of his throat.

"Ah," said the stranger. "Indeed, I will not tell you where she is. I will, however, give you a hint—"

That was all Kagome heard, as that something else that caused her uneasy feelings and was trying to catch her attention finally got it.

There were youkai in the village.

Kagome opened her eyes, taking in the many different youki she was feeling. Low level youkai, but so many of them!

She shoved a dagger into her hakama, and set out to find her old bow and arrows. If not for her tattoo, and the fact that her hakama were yellow-gold instead of red, she would have looked like any normal miko preparing to battle a youkai. The problem was, she was not any normal miko. She had almost no training in fighting youkai, since oracles used their powers to See, past, future and present, but not to fight.

Hurrying, Kagome stepped out of her shrine, half running down the path towards the village, hoping she would get there in time to help, in time to save. It was her fault, she knew. If she had only paid attention to her senses, she would have sensed the youkai long before they attacked. She could have been prepared for it. Her village could have been prepared for it. All because she was too busy with the kid and the youkai lord.

The village was a horrid sight to her eyes. The land was covered with blood and ruins that used to be buildings, and bodies… so many bodies. Some were youkai. Most were human.

Woman, children, men. All dead, or worse, dying slowly, miserable, agonizingly. Screams were filling the air. Kagome's eyes landed on a cluster of youkai bodies, all of them surrounding an old woman in white and red. Kaede. The old village Miko. Kagome's old mentor. She died when her arrows ran out, but she died defending her people, taking many of the youkai with her. Kagome mentally said a prayer for her soul.

There were men still trying to fight, protecting those who couldn't. Others were trying to escape or hide. There were people still alive. And she had a duty to them.

Running to a cluster of fighting men, shooting her arrows on the way at every youkai within her reach, Kagome heard the men shouting.

"The Oracle-sama!"

"The Oracle-sama is fighting!"

"The Oracle-sama is fighting for us!"

"Protect the Oracle-sama!"

"For the Oracle-sama!"

The men stood around her in a circle, protecting her while she shot her arrows at the youkai, purifying them on the spot. There was not much she could do but shoot, and watch as the men around her fell. _They want to protect me. Me, who should be the one protecting them. But I did nothing to protect them. I could have stopped the attack, or warn them at least. I do not deserve their protection._ They were not warriors, just simple villagers, who fought with rakes and scythes. Some lucky ones had wood axes too. But axes were not enough, and Kagome knew that once her arrows ran out, they would all be in trouble. _Because of me._

Her arrow hit a blue worm youkai that had been fighting with the man in front of her, and the youkai evaporated with a pink flash. Another arrow hit another youkai, who evaporated as well. The youkai kept coming, and she was getting tired. She used so much of her powers; it was getting harder and harder to concentrate on purifying, not to mention aiming. Her hand went to her back, to her quiver, for another arrow.

She found nothing.

Panicking, she searched again, hoping that she just missed her arrows the first time. Once again, there were none. She threw her bow and quiver to the side, taking out her dagger, too exhausted to use it. She knew she would die now, just like Kaede.

She fought with another youkai, her small dagger not enough to protect her. The youkai sank its teeth in her side, and she sank her dagger in its head, trying hard not to scream. She could not hold herself upright much longer, and she had to fight to keep her eyes open. _It would be so good to just… rest._ She could hear the men shouting again and again, "The Oracle-sama is hurt!"

Someone was stepping closer to her, and it was not a villager. "The jewel… master would be happy to get his tama finally." A silent, maniac laughter was the last thing she heard before she gave in to the darkness.


End file.
